Visa Process

Preparation for Visa

Preparing and Indexing your documents for the interview

On the day of the Interview

After the interview :-)

• Preparation for Visa
  Covers
  • Applying for a Visa Interview.
  • Documents required for Visa application.
  • Getting required documents done.
  • Formats of various documents.
• Preparing and Indexing your documents for the interview
  Covers

  • Preparing a Summary.

  • Arranging Harmonium Folder.

• On the day of the Interview
• After the interview :-)

Tip

Many people get their F1 Visa without being asked for a single document. Remember its your confidence and the way you talk that makes a lot of difference. The Visa officers are expert in judging you by your behavior and confidence. They are really smart and know their art really well. When you have all the proper documents in your folder, you'll automatically have that confidence and you'll be much more relaxed. What I mean is that complete documents are important. They play their part in your Visa process even if they were never asked for.

• Bank Loan Documents:
  If you have got a loan approved, you'll need to have proper bank documents/certificates stating so.
• Sponsors Certificate:
  If you have your parents or relatives as sponsors, you will require a sponsor certificate. Note that many people take it for-granted that if one's father is sponsoring then sponsor certificate may not be required. Legally, you should have a certificate from anyone who is sponsoring, regardless of whether he is your father or your distant relative. If any of your distant relative is sponsoring you, then prepare to answer some questions regarding why is such a distant relative/Uncle interested in sponsoring you.
  There is no specific format for a sponsor certificate prescribed by consulate. Ideally a sponsor certificate should be notarized by a authorized notary.
  I referred the I-134 Affidavit of support to make a sponsor certificate of my own and got it stamped by a notary. Note that this certificate is to be printed on a stamp paper. You can refer my sample certificate below (again I take absolutely no guarantee that this is the way it should be done... I did it this way for myself and it worked for me)
  
   
• Father's Salary Certificate and Proof of Job, post and service.
  If your father is salaried and is one of your sponsors, you'll need to carry his last Income Tax return, Salary certificate and proof of Job, post and service. In government jobs, such a certificate can be issued by the head of the department or immediate boss of ones father.
  Note that it should be in English and even the stamps etc. should be preferably in English.
  
  In case father has a business, you'll need to have equivalent certificates for proof of business, income etc.
   
• Bank (PPF, GPF) Passbooks and statements of past 12 months as proof of liquid money.
  Basically what people usually do is that they show liquid assets of at least the I20 amount and the rest as fixed deposits, investments in shares and other 'readily convertible into liquid assets'.
  You should produce bank passbooks/statements of all the bank accounts that has got substantial balance.
   
• Share portfolio certificates from the broker.
  In case you are showing a substantial amount invested in shares, you'll need to have a certificate from the broker stating the same. For people having demat accounts with ICICI/HDFC etc, may approach the bank and ask them to attest the print-out of the portfolio that your online login shows. You can have a signed cover letter (statement by the bank vouching for the accompanied attested portfolio) accompanied with that attested copy of portfolio. This will make a valid certificate as a proof of your investments in shares.
   
• CA Certificates (Optional)
  The CA certificates are totally optional. The idea is to give the Visa officer a complete picture of your financial credibility. So far as you are meticulous with your documents and you have coherently listed all your assets and plan for the flow of money for next 2 years, the officer will never bother to see a CA certificate.
   
• All semester marksheets, Class X and XII marksheets and UG Degree/Provisional certificate.
  Marksheets are something that Visa Officers will often ask for. So they are one of the most essential documents you should not miss. Apart from that, you can also keep the class X and XII marksheet.
   

• GRE and TOEFL score sheets, SOP, Resume
  GRE and TOEFL scores are again frequently asked by the Visa Officers. Do not forget to keep the original score sheets that you got via postal mail. Keep a copy of the SOP and Resume with you (The ones that you sent to the University). Although they are never asked for but then again, keep those 2 piece of papers for completeness.
   

• Your experience letter, original salary certificate, latest salary slip, your company ID and latest form-16. (For employed people)
  If you are currently employed, these are again very important certificates that you need to take with you. I have read Visa experiences where the Visa Officer asked for the company tag/ID. You should have enough authentic proofs to prove your employment in that company.
  Also be prepared to answer questions like "Why are you leaving such a good job?" etc. Think of such answers beforehand but don't mug them up.
   

• Some additional documents that you'd require to keep:
   

  • In case there are recent transactions involving huge incoming transfer of money into your bank accounts, you will require some docs to justify them. For example, if you have sold many shares to generate enough money into the account, just have copies of cheques that your broker gave you to justify the passbook entries. In case it was a ECS, then there is no need. Similarly, you need to account for all the big incoming transfers in recent weeks and have something to justify that it was indeed your own money in some other form.
  • Acceptances letters from all the Universities that gave you an admit.
  • Your state of residence certificate. Your company can issue such a certificate if you are employed.
  • You may want to keep a spare photograph and a set of spare DS forms.
  • Any relevant emails that you might have exchanged with the University Officials. For Ex. if you are showing that your professor promised a Research Assistantship to you then you should have any email correspondences that you had with your prof. regarding the same.

The list mentioned above is by no means a exhaustive list. Everyone requires different documents to suit his/her particular situation. By listing the documents above, I have just tried to convey the idea of what documents are required and why.

Tip

Never ever be tempted to forge any document. No matter how small it is or how cleanly you can do it, never even attempt to do that. You may have to pay a huge penalty for such a misadventure. Many people get permanent ineligibility to enter into US for such kinds of frauds. Never get lured by any fascinating 'fool-proof' idea suggested by consultants. There is a lot of fraud happening in this space where consultants beguile unsuspecting students. Check this article.

Tip - Always have a Summary of your financial docs

While many of us get exhaustive and comprehensive documents to show all our finances but we forget that the Visa Officer may not be familiar with the different document formats and their worth and authenticity. While you may have plenty to show, the VO hasn't got time to understand and see all of it and normally they won't see most of it. The idea is to let them have a birds eye view first. This is where a summary of all your finances comes in. Just jot down all your finance sources and amounts on a sheet of paper and when asked for your finances, just hand over this single piece of paper telling that this is what the overview is. Further, if he/she asks for any particular document, just show that particular document. This is very convenient for the VO as well as for yourself too. I have been often asked what kind of summary I made. This is a sample of what I made:

Arranging the Harmonium Folder
I read this fancy name 'harmonium folder' on various posts on Internet. I was really amused by the name. Even when I went to the stationary shop of ask for it, I was hesitant to use this word fearing the shopkeeper will ask 'Now what is this Harmonium folder?". However, when I said that, the shopkeeper in fact promptly showed me 10's of different 'Harmonium Folders'

So, basically many students stack their documents in this thing called harmonium folder. Its a folder that has many compartments to segregate various documents in different compartments. You need to make small sets of related documents and arrange them in order. You'll also need to remember where you have placed various documents so that you can produce a particular document as soon as asked for.

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